Newsletter – September 2016

Integral Care is building Housing First Oak Springs, an apartment community in Austin where residents can build a better life through recovery from homelessness, mental illness and substance use disorder.

The Topfer Family Health Resource Center, operated in partnership by Integral Care and CommUnityCare, officially opened its doors to Community First! Village residents on Thursday, September 22. Over 100 community members joined together to celebrate the opening of the “first-of-its-kind” integrated health care clinic which provides mental and physical health care services in one convenient setting. Integral Care CEO, David Evans, said “Rather than seeing [physical and mental health] as two separate issues, we try to see the whole person and try to get healthy outcomes.”

The Homeless Outreach Street Team (HOST) started on June 1 as a pilot program with representatives from the Downtown Austin Alliance (DAA), the Austin Police Department (APD), Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Downtown Austin Community Court, and Integral Care.

HOST is a new and collaborative approach to traditional policing models. The team consists of two officers, one paramedic, two behavioral health specialists and one social service worker who partner to divert homeless individuals from jail, unnecessary emergency rooms visit, hospital stays and emergency psychiatric centers. The role of this team is to build trust and understand the needs of people living on the streets and to maintain on-going contact with them.

We appreciate the approach the partners are taking to create a positive downtown environment and the willingness to adopt new and innovative ways to help homeless individuals.

Downtown Austin Alliance is committed to helping provide permanent supportive housing in our community. DAA is matching every private dollar donated up to $150,000. We are more than half way to our goal. Give today to help us reach our goal.

“Being present when things fall into place, working together to accomplish goals using dignity, respect, an open heart, and willingness to help is the reason I do what I do for as long as I’ve been doing it.”

David Gomez is the Program Manager for Homeless Services at Integral Care. David was recently interviewed by Fox News 7 about Integral Care’s Homeless Outreach Street Team, a program in partnership with APD.

One of the most expensive cities in the nation is adopting a Housing First approach. A house is more than four walls – it is the foundation for recovery from homelessness, mental illness and substance use disorder. Cities across the country are adopting the Housing First model.

A one-hour Housing First Oak Springs tour will give you the opportunity to see, first-hand, how our staff engages individuals experiencing chronic homelessness in services, places them in housing, and offers rehabilitation support services.